Chapter 69.1 - A Marriage Alliance (Part I) (1/2)

For the first time since the beginning of spring, it had rained. As the rain ran down the eaves of the roof onto the slabs in the courtyard, the gloominess of the weather seemed to be slowly descending to the earth as well.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Xia Yan had held up a spoonful of sweetened steam-curdled yoghurt[1] pudding and was bringing it closer to the young girl before her.

[1] Táng zhēng sūlào ( 糖蒸酥酪 ) – There is no proper name for this commonly seen snack in Beijing. This local street snack, that is distinctive of the flavours in Beijing, is commonly made with fresh milk, sweet fermented rice wine, sugar and almond slices. The steps to making this sweet dessert are similar to pudding, using methods of straining and steaming. This is made to mitigate the summer heat.

“I don’t want to eat.” Jiang Su Su cast her head aside. That pair of movingly beautiful eyes were filled with anger. Although medicine had been applied on the right cheek of that spotlessly white as a jade face, the long cut of flesh that had begun just from her right eye downwards had gruesomely flipped over. By sheer coincidence, her skin had been slashed open right at the blood-coloured tear-shaped birthmark of hers. With one look, it made her seem similar to Asura.

“Su’er, be good. Only when you eat something will the wound heal quickly.” Xia Yan gently persuaded her.

With one swipe, Jiang Su Su flipped the porcelain bowl in Xia Yan’s hands as she spoke in an agitated voice, “What good will it be now, with these looks of mine that make me look like a ghost. In what way is it possible to become better? It’s better for me to be dead.” As she spoke to a point that made her emotionally upset, she could not help but cough twice, causing the right side of her face that had initially looked warped to appear even more frightening.

Distressed, Xia Yan gently patted her back, “If you say this, can it be that you are trying to make mother pained to death over you? Su’er, be at ease, mother will definitely find the best physician who will not leave the slightest scar behind.”

“Do you believe that I will be convinced by your words?” Jiang Su Su looked at her with a face filled with disappointment, “If not for your idea of having Shu Xiang lure in that Li Yang into Su Xin Yuan, then how would have matters developed to such a degree. It’s all you! It’s all your fault!” Having spoken this last point, her gaze had become wild and her emotions were so intense that they were almost out of control.

“Enough!” All of a sudden Xia Yan shouted in a low voice and swiftly spoke in a whisper, “Are you trying to have everyone hear about this matter?”

Jiang Su Su’s voice, which had become hoarse was now mute, but still she continued to glare at her.

Xia Yan’s voice was unexpectedly severe, “Put away that terrible look of yours, do you believe that you can change anything by staying in such a state, if Jiang Ruan were to see you in such a manner, she might even be thrilled. If your Father saw you in such a state, he would only be disappointed. If you want revenge, then restrain those tears of yours for me and listen to my words.”

Her strict tone startled Jiang Su Su for a moment but she slowly calmed down and asked, “Then what should I do?”

Once Xia Yan saw that she was now behaving , she knew that Jiang Su Su had digested her words and spoke with a sigh of relief, “Now that your Second Brother has lost a finger, this matter has become extremely suspicious. I do not know how this has happened to your Second Brother but this matter between you and Li Yang, Jiang Ruan is unable to shed off responsibility for it. She has actually played tricks on both you and me.”

“I hate that I cannot peel off her skin and drink her blood.” Jiang Su Su clenched her fists as her gaze became gloomy, “She has harmed me till such a state, I cannot accept it!”

“The Li family’s power is too strong, however, no matter what I will not send you to them. I have already written a letter to your maternal grandfather[2]. If your maternal grandfather knew how you and your Second Brother were right now, Jiang Ruan’s peaceful days would be numbered.”

[2] Waizufu ( 外祖父 ) – maternal grandfather.

Jiang Su Su’s eyes were alit, “Maternal grandfather will avenge me.”

“So now, you need to recuperate from your injuries properly.” Xia Yan looked at her as she mildly continued, “Later, when your wound is better, I will then arrange for you to take a trip to the Xia fu.”

Xia Yan was born from the second wife of the Marquis of Yongding, Xia Cheng. At that time, Xia Cheng was unknown, only a meagre county lord. Thus, with Xia Yan’s status, she could not marry Jiang Quan as his main wife. Who would have known that Xia Cheng’s elder di brother would die suddenly due to an illness a few years later and thus, the Marquis title landed on him, the shu son’s shoulders. As the tide rises, the boat floats; with this change in station and in addition, with Zhao Mei severing relations with General Zhao, Xia Yan’s status became more fitting to the position of being Jiang Quan’s legitimate wife.

Xia Cheng and Xia Yan, in general, were the kind of people who would defend their own despite knowing that they were in the wrong. If he knew that this pair of maternal grandchildren of his had such unforeseen events happen to them, who knew what sort of methods he would use to deal with Jiang Ruan.

After speaking with Jiang Su Su for a while, Xia Yan then stood up and left. After she walked to the door, Xia Yan rubbed her forehead and asked, “Chao’er, has he awoken?”

Lin Lang lowered her head in reply, “Second Young Master woke up at noon. Only, he threw a huge tantrum once he woke up and had all of the maidservants in the residence expelled from his room. He is unwilling to see anyone.”

Xia Yan took a deep breath, “Let’s go, I will go see him.”

The weather continued to be cloudy and rainy, yet the atmosphere in Ruan Ju remained similar to how it was in the past; leisurely and relaxed. It seemed completely unaffected by this gloomy weather. Jiang Ruan stood before the desk practicing some writing as Bai Zhi was at her side, helping her to grind some ink. “Miss, this character is developing well.”

“You are illiterate, who are you to say that it’s good.” From her side, Lian Qiao remarked.

Bai Zhi’s face flushed, after all, her mouth was not as ferocious as Lian Qiao’s and so could only mumble with a lowered head, “It’s because I see that it looks good.”

Jiang Ruan placed the brush aside, “Do you want to learn to write?”

As the two of them heard that, without exception, they were both surprised and delighted as they looked at her. Lian Qiao replied, “Naturally, we would wish to.”

“Then in a few days, I will pick some simple books and you two will begin to learn how to recognise some words.” Following her, being able to read would definitely be good. Generally, Lu Zhu was outside handling matters, therefore Lian Qiao and Bai Zhi ought to be able to help her with some matters in the fu as well.

“This servant thanks Miss.” The two maidservants were naturally unable to contain their joy. For servant girls, being able to learn to read were things that only people of the upper echelons could do. For Jiang Ruan to allow them to learn to read, it was truly something they could not thank her enough for.

“Young Miss, to have Lu Zhu go out today and retrieve the banknotes that were deposited at the Si Hai money shop[3], why was this done?” Lian Qiao asked.

[3] Qiánzhuāng ( 钱庄 ) – The first of such an establishment was started in the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 CE). It was in essence, a private local bank where one could change money, make deposits, make loans to traders, care for remittances, and in some cases issue their own scrip.

Jiang Ruan glanced at her, these two maids, although they were loyal, their thoughts were overly proper. On the contrary, Lu Zhu had travelled extensively in the past and had seen enough unpleasant matters in the streets, therefore, when deploying her in such matters, she(JR) would not have any qualms nor worries. However, as far as these two maids, she still did not dare to put them to much use yet.

“Look at this rain.” Jiang Ruan gazed outside the window, “For a while now, it has rained and rained. Yet, no one knows when it will stop.”